Rectilinearness

And there is a stubbornness of will, an unbending rectilinearness of march, like that of the Norwegian Leming, which cannot comprehend that perils which press from one quarter are not to be met by the same weapons and the same attitude which is appropriate against those which menace from an opposite direction;

Herzen’s daughter was brought up in the most inconsolable positivism and her soul could not bear the “rectilinearness of phenomena.” The author concludes: “This means she simply died of ‘cold darkness and boredom,’ with, so to speak, animal and unaccountable suffering, life simply became stifling for her, just as if there were not enough air. . . .”

It is the oldest sister who rules the roost, and Miranda attempts to force Rebecca into the accepted patterns of behavior maintained in the Sawyer home, or “the brick house” as it is called, emphasizing solidarity and rectilinearness, much as Miranda’s routines are called “brick house ways.”